There Is A God
Sheila Sims Iding
Newsflash! This just in! There is a God! Okay…well maybe not “just in”. Maybe it was discovered thousands of years ago. But I wanted to clear things up in case you wondered. Just in case you have never marveled at caterpillars becoming butterflies. Just in case you have never been awed by the pink and orange of a sunrise. Just in case you have never held a miracle called “a baby”…you should know there is a God.
How else could ducks make that perfect “V” when flying south? How else could a crocus push through the March snow? How else could Joey and Addie end up together in love if there wasn’t a God? From the lay person’s eye Joey and Addie were not supposed to be together. God tried…many times. But many times, for many years, His great plan never got off the ground.
Joey and Addie were in high school together. They walked the halls of Lansing Catholic Central together and they probably never talked to each other. The same school, the same dances, the same All-School masses and they never really noticed each other. God tried.
Joey played soccer with her brother, Matt, and I remember this girl, Addie, was there. When the hallway-dance-mass thing didn’t pan out, God put them at the same soccer field together. They still didn’t connect. They probably didn’t even notice each other there either. God still tried.
Addie was in Tim’s grade. She even hung around with some of his friends and he hung around with some of her teammates. That didn’t help with the connection.
This God is a determined God because Adam was in a computer class with her. Surely Addie and Addy in a classroom together should render some Iding/Finelli connection. It didn’t.
Really? Joey and both his brothers are at the same school with her and nothing? Who am I to question God? But if this marriage is destiny…where’s God? Is there a God??
Joey left Catholic Central and headed south to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan. A few years later, Addie headed even farther south to the University of Dayton. Joey’s University of Michigan soccer team played at Dayton. He may have walked where Addie walked. She may have walked by the stadium where he played…that very day. Still a missed connection. I wonder if even God was beginning to wonder about His plan.
Then Joey headed to New York University and the big city to work on his Masters Degree. Addie headed to the big city too…Chicago. Now they are even farther apart and I question if God began to question God.
And there they are with their lives. Their own lives. Their separate lives. Joey in New York City dating, working, having fun and living miles apart from the unknown love of his life. Addie in Chicago dating, working, having fun and living miles apart from her unbeknownst soul mate. Hello, God??
And then Tim moves to Chicago to work on another Masters Degree at Loyola University and…he meets his former Catholic Central classmate, Addie, for coffee. And they meet and talk and talk and meet and they coffee. And their share life stories. She tells of bad luck with boyfriends and Tim tells of Joey’s bad luck with girlfriends. And maybe the two of them should meet and commensurate. Hello, God!
And, thanks to Tim and a certain secret email, the “chance” meeting is arranged. Joey will visit Tim in Chicago and casually hang out with this Addie girl. THE plan is finally coming together. There is a God. But…not so fast my faith-filled friend. The meeting is canceled because Joey has to attend a soccer banquet as a guest at the University of Michigan. Hello, God…are you there?
So another meeting is set up and…almost like a miracle…this one actually occurs. But the “occurring” wasn’t the real miracle. The instant connection between Joey and Addie..and their hearts…was the miracle. Like it was some part of a great plan. Like it was destiny. The handiwork of God. He is so clever. He knew it all along. So as it turns out…there is a God.
How else could a young boy with an incurable disease, beat that disease and cheat a life expectancy and be so healthy he runs marathons? The only answer: God.
How else could a guy in New York City meet up with a girl in Chicago? The answer: God’s plan (and Tim’s planning).
How could three older and very protective brothers not only welcome Joey but accept him into their family? All three of them? After one meeting?? The answer: some sort of miracle.
How could a young boy’s Godfather console his family the day that boy was diagnosed and 26 years later be the celebrant at his Godson’s wedding? The answer: Our God is an awesome God.
How could two beautiful, kind, caring and fun-loving young people both be “single” when the time came to act on this plan? The answer: God’s timing.
So now it is confirmed (in case you really wondered)…there is a God. And don’t have to look any further than Joey and Addie for proof that there really is a God and that God definitely had a hand in this marriage. There may have been near-miss chance meetings along the way. There may have been a time they both were ready to give up on love. There may have been times in their lives when they both wondered if they would ever find someone who shares their genuine faith, their love of family, their playful fun, their caring hearts.
And on this, their wedding day, God’s presence is more evident than ever. There is genuine love in their eyes as they exchange vows. There is a ring on their finger from the sacramental ceremony. There is smile on their face from their first dance as husband and wife. There is hope in their life for an amazing future together. And it’s all because…there is a God who has journeyed with Joey and Addie on their separate paths and will journey with them together…forever. There is a God.